Happy 4th!

We wish all of our friends a Happy and safe 4th of July weekend!! We will be celebrating locally with family :)

Busy is nothing without consistency

I was having a conversation with the hubby this morning over coffee and we were discussing how so many parents 'throw' their kids into way too many activities at one time. Some kids do multiple sports and also a musical instrument as well as school and parents think it is the right thing to do. They feel that kids should be kept busy at all times. Now what good does busy do a child if there is no real consistency involved in their day to day? When a child lives a sporadic life at such a young age it seems to me that this can lead to disorganization and chaos. Of course I am no expert so I can't say for sure. Dwayne and I just think kids of today do way more than they should and this leaves less time for them to learn the most important life lessons and life skills that should come directly from their parents. We have made it a point to spend more time individually with our children. Don't get me wrong, our children are involved in activities but are limited to how often and how many at any given time. I think it is imperative that our children are taught about things like finances, paying bills, keeping house and even cooking. After all, what sport will teach them these things? What are your thoughts??

Summer is near

It dawned on me that school will be over in just two weeks! I have been in planning mode for the past couple weeks. My girls have a pretty busy summer coming up. They have trips, camps, pre-season volleyball training, summer reading and a long list of teenage-related things to do including some family day-trips. I am sure that the time will breeze on by. I am not looking forward so much to the heat of the summer but I will be happy to have my girls around. Does anyone have any big plans for when school is out?

The disappearing household

Has anyone noticed how busy everyone seems to be these days? Parents working (some at home), kids in school, activities, sports, practices, etc... Don't forget all the games, meets, tournaments, recitals, open houses, PTO/PTA meetings, fundraisers, business functions and the list is endless. Oh and let's not forget the Internet (social sites, email, shopping, uh pretty much everything you can imagine right at your fingertips) I am sure this all sounds very familiar to most of you. I know it has been a theme in my household over the past few years. When you were growing up did you remember your family being this busy? Not me, we actually had so much time on our hands that we became bored. We always found something to do though...riding bikes, rollerskating, hanging out at the mall or going to the movies. Those were much simpler times. Now society tells you that your kids need to be involved in extracurricular activities every single day. We did this last year with the girls. They went from a variety of summer camps then to school volleyball, club volleyball and piano on top of a FULL school workload. Once you added in all the travel time and expenses (yes, it was very expensive) the end result was a completely burned out family. Every last one of us.

I was chatting with a friend on the phone the other day and we discussed how hard it is to have your children involved in multiple activities and school at the same time. She mentioned that she even knew a couple that divorced over the same thing. Their marriage suffered because of neglect due to traveling all over with the kids. I can't imagine it coming to that extreme. I decided a few weeks back that things will be very different around the Ismail household. We are going to say NO to some things. We can't attend every single game or event. We have to say no to some parties and gatherings. We have to put our family first. We must have more sit-down dinners around the table. We must connect on a daily basis. We can't let all the "stuff" we have going on take over our entire life. No way. Already I have been feeling so relaxed and not so cluttered with feeling like there is no time. I can't stand when people always complain that they have no time. Sometimes just moving things around a bit can give you some more breathing room. I think we will be a even happier household in the long run. I apologize for such a long post. Thanks for taking the time to read this and please share your thoughts on this subject.